| Ashley's First Report |
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| Written by Chris Bull | |
| Saturday, 08 September 2007 00:00 | |
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Below is Ashley’s first report back to us. She is our outbound exchange student who is a Marathon student studying in Germany right now.
Matteo, our inbound student, is settling in at this point and should be completing his first report soon. He will be speaking to our club one of the next few meetings to tell more about his family, Italy, and his first impressions of America. We are still looking for host parents for Matteo anytime after February. Also, if you would like to take him out fishing, dancing, or just dinner, let me know. Several Rotarians have already taken him on adventures and he appreciates and enjoyed them all. Report 1: Hello to all! I have been in Germany on my exchange now since July 31st. I was a little tired at first from jet leg and stuff but now i am awesome. My first host family picked me up at the airport, and then we went to our home about 40 minutes away. It was so different here compared to florida. There are trees everywhere...flowers everywhere...and it is a very wet atmosphere. The town which i live in is called Dorsten. It is such a cool town...everyone here says it is boring...but i definatley don't think so. My school started on the 6th of August. TI was definatley nerve racking going into a new country where i didnt speak the language and now going to school....craziness! The people are very nice at my school. They showed me to all of my classes and waited for me to go to the next. Coming home on the first day of school i got lost. I was taking a picture on my bike and i passed the road. I went for awhile untili realized that i had never seen the building before....so i went down a few other streets hoping i would find my way home...and i didnt so i backtracked and foud a familiar building and then i finally found my way home. I was lost for about 30 minutes or so. For some reason i knew that would happen. My first host family is wonderful. I have two host syblings....and boy (Florian- 12) and a girl (Patricia-8). They are great to hang out with and play games. Everyday my host sister asks me to play the card game rummy with her. I think it is pretty funny. My host parents are wonderful as well host mom (Bettina) and my host father (Andreas). They are very funny and they are very welcoming. My host brother goes to a boarding school about 30 minutes away. He comes home on the weekends and then he has to go back to school on sunday evening. My host sister goes to school very close to my house. My host father is a dentist so he is at work until 1 and then he comes home and we all have dinner and then he goes back to work. And my host mother is a stay at home mom. Last week i spoke at my first Rotary meeting here in Dorsten. I spoke in german too! I was definatley nervous but afterwards i was more relaxed. I didnt do so good but it was okay. I was practincing before and my YEO Mr. Illerhaus was laughing at me. But that is just the way he is...always laughing. So far everything has been wonderful. I have my own room and bathroom....my host parents let me borrow and extra bike that they have so i ride it to school everyday...to and from. My host family is perfect for me. I will be writing more reports and sending lots of pictures soon. Love you all! Thanks Rotary for making this possible! Ashley Evenrud |
